A SPECIALIST plant firm could be set to grow and create more jobs in the Vale of Evesham, thanks in part to the help of Mid Worcestershire MP Peter Luff.

Hayloft Plants, of Manor Farm Nursery, Pensham, Pershore, supply new and unusual plants by mail order, where Derek Jarman explained a typical order was £24, of which £20 was retained to cover costs and profit and £4 went to the Government in VAT.

He explained: “Many of our larger competitors pack their mainland UK grown plants in the Channel Islands. They are grown on the mainland UK, shipped to the Channel Islands, packed at port and sent back to the UK consumer the following day and delivered by Royal Mail.

“To post a parcel in the Channel Islands to, say, Evesham costs he same as it does from Pershore to Evesham.”

Mr Jarman said the largest saving was due to the Low Value Consignment Relief (LVCR) where for parcels with a value of below £18 plus P&P of up to a further £6 there was no VAT.

“I annually sell 100,000 parcels at an average of £24 and the saving because of the LVCR would be £400,000 if I packed my Pershore-grown plants in Jersey or Guernsey. This is clearly unfair competition and emits a lot of CO2 getting plants to and from the Channel Islands.”

Mr Luff took the matter up with the Treasury with the aim of reducing LVCR down to £7, and, in the Budget, the Chancellor said that from November 1 it would be reduced from £18 to £15.

Mr Jarman said: “If the unfair competition element to our business was to disappear, we would have the confidence to develop our 15.5 acre site at Longdon Hill, Evesham, which has planning permission for 6.25 acres of greenhouses which would bring more jobs to the area.”